Looking to make some changes to your body composition? If you feel like you’re currently carrying a little too much body fat and want to pack on lean muscle, you need to get a good game plan ahead.
While it can be hard to both lose fat and build muscle at the same time, with the right technique, it’s not impossible. You definitely do need to be focused, however, and put in a bit more effort than if your goal was simply to lose fat or to build muscle.
Let’s go over what you need to know to make this happen.
Prioritize Nutrition
When it comes to any body composition change, getting your nutrition inline will always be your number one priority. It’s a must that you focus on eating wholesome foods coming from natural sources.
Think lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, fresh fruits and vegetables, along with small amounts of healthy fats.
If you want to change your body composition, there’s simply no room for refined foods or sugar. Cutting those out is a must.
Strength Train
There’s absolutely no denying that if you want to build lean muscle and burn fat, you need to be doing strength training. Don’t try and get around this one – cardio will not get you there.
Strength training is most beneficial for changing your body composition because it helps you build lean muscle mass and increases your metabolic rate, so you can burn calories all day long.
That means ongoing fat burning, leading to better results.
Time Your Nutrients Wisely
Now in order to really change your body composition, burning fat and building muscle at the same time, you need to focus heavily on nutrient timing.
It’s important that right after your workout session, you optimize the anabolic (muscle building processes) taking place and outside that workout period, you optimize fat burning processes.
How can you best do this?
Focus on placing the bulk of your complex carbohydrate intake in the prior before and immediately after your workout sessions.
Then once that time is over, your meals should be made primarily of proteins, fibrous carbohydrates (vegetables) along with healthy fats. These are the foods that will help keep you in fat burning mode for the rest of the day.
Avoid Stress
Finally, if you really want to change your body composition, make sure that you avoid stress at all costs. Stress is going to cause you to secrete high amounts of the stress hormone cortisol, which can break down lean muscle mass and actually encourage fat gain in the abdominal region.
If you want to encourage a better body composition, stress is basically going to work directly against you.
Use smart stress management strategies such as taking a hot bath, talking to a friend, doing an intense workout, or whatever else works for you to help minimize this in your life.
If you keep these tips in mind, you should successfully be able to manage your body composition, adding lean muscle while burning up body fat.
